Ryo's Story
by digigirl132
Summary: Akiyama Ryo. The boy of legend. The greatest tamer ever. But, How did he become what he is? And what happened to him after his adventures with Ken? R+R please. WARNING! Shonen ai! Ryo+Osamu. New! Now with chapters! *Finished*
1. Chapter 1

Author: Hi everyone! ^^ This idea came to me while I was chatting with a friend online. Hope you like it!

Oh, and Mek, thanks for the plot bunny!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Except my cookies. *runs off with a handful of homemade sugar cookies*

Note: I do not know what happens in any of the digimon video games involving Ryo (Mainly because I can only understand like 2 or 3 kanji, and about 12 hiragana symbols and 4 katakana symbols. ^^ I know enough katakana to write my name!), sans the few that are in English. so it is best to pretend that any of the video games involving Ryo never happened, and that this happened instead.

Note 2: This story was to friggin long, so I have broken it up into chapters! I've also fixed some minor errors. Enjoy!

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Dear whoever finds this letter,

Greetings! I bet you are surprised to get a mysterious letter from a mysterious person. Well, let me introduce myself. My name is Akiyama Ryo, and I am lost. Not in a physical sense, mind you, but in a spiritual sense. I am lost in a way that cannot be recovered by maps or simple directions.

I haven't seen any humans in two years. I don't know if I ever will again. This letter is my only link to the human world. That is, if this Gazimon can get it there like he says he can. I pray that somebody finds it. That way, they won't make the same mistakes I did.

I am in exile in a desert on the continent of Server. Have you ever heard of it? Probably not, if you've never been to the Digital world. I better explain what the Digital world is. You see, there's this place that is inside of all computers. It's a place where everything is data, even the living creatures. That's what the digital world is, sort of. It's hard to explain. But just know that this place exists.

It's called the Digital world because creatures called digimon live there. Yeah, I know it sounds strange. But it's true. The few humans that live here coexist with the digimon. Though, most of the humans who come here don't live here. Most of the humans who come here are chosen children(1) or tag tamers. I was a tag tamer once. Then, all the bad stuff happened…..

But I am getting ahead of myself. Like I was saying, there are chosen children and there are tag tamers. They both do basically the same thing, but in different ways. Every chosen child and tag tamer has a partner digimon. Mine is a V-mon. He is still with me, even now. Actually, he's helping me with the parts I am forgetting.

Chosen children use a small device, called a digivice, to make their digimon grow stronger. When a digimon changes grows and gets stronger, it's called digivolving. The chosen children don't do much work. They are just there to help their digimon reach a higher level. 

Tag tamers are different. We do have digivices, and we do help our digimon digivolve, but we do much more than that. Tag tamers actually fight alongside their digimon. You see, tag tamers know a little bit of magic. Not a lot, but enough to make a difference. For example, I know a spell that can fill a bucket of water, making it easier to survive in the desert. Most tag tamers, though, don't actually fight that often. They know more healing spells, and they are there to heal their digimon when they grow weak in a fight. While most tag tamers don't actually do that much fighting, there are some, like me, who fight alongside their digimon as much as possible. 

I've always been like that. I guess it is due to my need to be strong. I needed to be reliable. I needed t be the one that people looked to when things were tough. I don't want to be baggage to V-mon (V-mon just sighed and said I am not baggage), so I fight. I even know some complex spells that usually only travelers know. But more on the travelers later. Right now, I want to tell you the basics, so that you can understand why I was banished to the desert of Server.

I guess it was my need to be strong that caused all this to happen. This need of mine was my downfall. This need caused an incident which permanently scarred my family, drove both me and my closest human friend to near insanity, and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent digimon.

And one human.

Every day I remember how he died. I have to live with the knowledge that I killed him, and that his family and my heart were broken due to his death. That is why I write this letter. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did. 

Well, with all that said, I can begin my story. But, I must warn you. It is a frightening and disturbing story. If you are weak of mind or stomach, then I recommend giving this letter to somebody else. 

Still here? Good. Now, I shall begin. It all started about four years ago in Real world time…..

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I was ten then. A good age for most, though it sucked for me. Nine years old, and I had to fend for myself mentally. Oh sure, I had a family. A Mother, Father, and two older sisters, to be exact. But they were never there for me. They never went to my soccer games. They never told me how good of a son or brother I was. They never worried about me if I disappeared for hours at a time.

They did not love me.

Mom and Dad were divorced at that time. My sisters, Anya and Claire, lived with our Mom, and I lived with Dad. Anya was 14 at the time, and Claire was 16. Mom was from France. That's why my sisters have such strange names. Dad was from Japan. I'm glad that he named me. Mom wanted to call me Pierre. C'mon, what kind of name is Pierre?! No offense to you if you happen to be named Pierre. I just couldn't live with myself if I had that name. Anyways, Mom lived a few blocks away from me, so I went and visited every other weekend. Anya and Claire came to my house the alternate weekend. They didn't stick around for long, though. Anya had cheerleading practice on Sundays, and Claire always went out with her boyfriend. I think they got married a couple years later. It's kinda cool, but not really pertinent to the story. 

Like I was saying, Mom and Dad didn't really notice if I was gone. They were more worried about their issues: Dad had work, and Mom had her new boyfriend. I didn't really like Mom's boyfriend. He never did anything while I was there, but I knew he abused Mom and my sisters. I could see the bruises. I think he didn't hurt me because he thought my dad would do something to him if he hurt me. Well, Dad didn't really give a rat's ass either way, so I was just lucky. Well, I shouldn't say that he didn't care. I should say that he was too busy to care. I'm sure that if he took a break from his busy work schedule, he would have noticed that something was up. He might have even been able to help me before things got as bad as they did…

Anyways, This is how things were. I played the part of the "Athletic and wild-yet-good-natured son." I did alright in school. Not the best, but not the worst either. I played soccer. That had to be my best skill. I was a "mixed player," which meant that I played whatever position I had to play when it was needed. I think the only position I didn't play was goalie. My life was alright. Though it had it's bumps, I somewhat enjoyed it. 

Then, everything changed. One afternoon, I was reading a spoiler on the internet for a show I like to watch. I was too impatient to wait to see it on TV. Then, the strangest thing happened. The computer screen got all bright and swirly, and a weird device came out of it! I didn't know it then, but it was my digivice. The brightness had caused me to cover my face with my hands, so I moved my hands and opened my eyes and saw the digivice floating in front of me! 

At first, I thought it was a trick. It had to be; things didn't just float like that! But then, a voice came out of the computer. It was the voice of a young man. The voice said, "Greetings, young one."

"wh..Who is that," I said, "Who's talking to me?"

"I am," the voice said without specifying exactly who he was, "You have a choice to make. You can choose to keep your life the way it is, or you can choose to accept your destiny."

"M.My destiny," I said, "What's my destiny?"

"That is not for me to tell you," the voice said, "It is for you to discover."

I actually thought about turning this offer down. Though my life sucked, it was alright. I mean, I wasn't going to bed hungry, and I had an O.K. life. But, for some reason, it wasn't enough for me. My life, though somewhat stable, was boring. I thirsted for adventure. So, I said, "I guess I choose to accept my destiny."

The voice said, "Very well. Touch the digivice floating in front of you, and your adventure will begin."

I sometimes wish that I hadn't agreed to do what that voice told me to do. If I hadn't agreed to do what that voice told me to do, I would never have been banished to a desert. I never would have caused all the pain and suffering I did. That boy would have never died….

But, for whatever reason, I touched that digivice. The room then began to glow a bright white. It was so painful that I wanted to cover my eyes with my hands, but I couldn't. They were locked onto the digivice. Suddenly, I felt something pull at me. It felt like something was pulling me towards the computer. But, there was nothing there! No ropes or anything! As I was pulled closer and closer to the computer, I was afraid that I would crash into it. But, I didn't crash into it. I was pulled into it. Within seconds, the life I had known was gone, and I was swirling though some sort of vortex, heading towards an unknown destination.

I fell for quite some time. Well, I wasn't really sure of what direction I was headed in. I could have been going up for all I knew. But, it felt like I was going down. Then, the light in the vortex became brighter. I could see that something was up ahead. What it was, I was not sure of. 

Then, all of a sudden, I reached the end of the vortex. Everything opened up, and I could see where I was going. For a few seconds I just hung there, not moving in any direction. I took this time to look around. I was very high up in the sky, facing down towards a giant world. It looked like there was a giant forest below me, with a few patched of fields here and there. Then I began to fall. Very fast. The wind was whipping by me as I plummeted to a certain doom. I think I even began to scream at one point. Well, that's understandable. I did think I was going to die.

I landed with a thud in a grassy field. It was painful, that's for sure. Not as painful as I thought it would be, though. There was no way that I could have survived a fall like that. I moaned and rolled over onto my back. I glanced up, and I saw something standing over me. My eyes wouldn't focus, though. So, I gave them a moment to adjust. When they did, I was startled by what I saw. 

Have you ever seen star wars? Well, this guy looked like one of those Jedi people. He had the whole white and tan robe thing going on, and his hair was short on top, but he had a ponytail at the base of his neck. I sat up and scooted away from him. The man laughed and said, "You have no reason to be afraid of me."

This guy had the same voice as the voice which had come out of my computer! I said, "Who are you?"

"I have many names," the guy said, "But you can call me Gennai. I am the one who summoned you here."

For some reason, I wasn't afraid of this guy. I had been startled at first, but that was because I wasn't expecting him to be standing over me. He seemed to have this air of intelligence surrounding him, and one couldn't help but respect him. I stood up and looked around. It was starting to get dark, and nothing around me looked familiar. I said, "Where am I?"

Gennai smiled and said, "Welcome to the Digital world."

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(1): Digidestened are called Chosen Children in the Japanese version.

End chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Author: Ok, here's chapter 2! Enjoy!

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I have to admit, it did seem cool in the beginning. I mean, how often do you get taken to another world by going through your computer? It seemed hard to believe, though, so I said, "The Digital world? Are you sure this isn't a dream or something?"

Gennai nodded and said, "I am sure. The Digital world is very real. So are the digimon. You'll see what digimon are in a moment. But, there are some things you need to know. You have been summoned here for a very important reason. Trouble is brewing in the Digital world. We travelers need all the help we can get. You have been chosen to become a tag tamer."

My head was spinning at that point. That was a lot of information for one kid to absorb. I said, "I don't think I understand…"

"I don't expect you to at this point," Gennai said, "You will in time, though. Just be patient."

Suddenly, I felt something, and I couldn't help but shiver. You know that feeling you get when something just isn't right? Well, that's kind of like what it was. Gennai seemed to have felt it too, because his eyes narrowed and he looked towards the horizon. I looked towards where Gennai was looking, but I didn't see anything. I said, "What's wrong, Gennai?"

"Trouble is coming," Gennai said, "We must hurry if we are to get to safety. Follow me, and stay close."

Gennai then headed in the direction opposite of the way he had been looking. I followed him, of course. He weaved his way through the fields and the forest. It was difficult to keep up to him, but I managed. The longer we traveled, the more of a hurry Gennai seemed to be in. We finally reached the end of the forest (which wasn't that big), and we were faced with a cliff. I said, "Where do we go now?"

"We have to climb down," Gennai said as he walked to the edge. He did some sort of magic, and a rope ladder appeared. I was amazed by this, so I said, "That's so cool!"

Gennai said, "You will learn to do that eventually. But for now, just climb down the ladder quickly. I'll go first to make sure nothing is waiting for us at the bottom."

I waited until Gennai was down most of the ladder, then I began to climb. It wasn't that hard, really. It just took a long time. When I was about halfway down, I heard a yell from below. I took a peek down, and I saw that Gennai was fighting with some sort of monster. The monster, which turned out to be a digimon, knocked Gennai across the ledge they were fighting on. I called out, "Gennai! Are you alright?"

The digimon heard me, and it looked up at me. This digimon was a scary looking one. It wore mostly gray, but had a red hood. I could only see it's eyes beneath it. It also had a scythe. The digimon seemed to be interested in me, so it flew up to me. It said, "Hmm, a new child? This could be interesting…"

I heard Gennai shout, "Leave the boy alone," but the digimon did not listen to him. Instead, it said, "Any human can be a potential threat to my master. It is best to eliminate to right now."

The digimon raised it's scythe, preparing to attack. Gennai was trying to attack the digimon, but he risked hitting me in the process. He couldn't reach the digimon, and the digimon was more interested in killing me than in fighting Gennai.

That was the first time I felt true fear in my life. I was trembling so badly that the rope ladder was shaking. My hands were sweaty, and my feet could barely stay on the rung of the ladder. I was too scared to move.

Suddenly, the digimon swung it's scythe at me, aiming for the deathblow.

I guess I was lucky that my foot slipped at that exact moment. Instead of taking off my head, the digimon only cut the rope ladder. But, unfortunately, that left nothing for the ladder to be supported with. So, I fell.

Gennai could see this, so he jumped up and caught me. Then, he started running along the ledge. He didn't even stop to put me down. I am glad for that, because I wouldn't have been able to run if I wanted to. Gennai ran down the ledge and into a small hole in the side of the cliff. He then chanted some kind of spell. I think it was an illusion spell, because the digimon flew right past us. Gennai waited until he was sure that the digimon was gone before he stepped out of our hiding place. A quick glance around told us that it was safe. Gennai breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That was a close one…"

I was still somewhat traumatized from the whole experience. Then, I began to cry. Not loud sobs, mind you, but a rather quiet cry. Gennai noticed this and looked at me with a look mixed with pity and sorrow. He put me down. He knelt down to my level and said, "I'm sorry, Ryo. That is the danger I was talking about. You'll have to fight digimon like that every day, once you are trained."

Still sobbing, I shook my head. I them buried my face in his shoulder and said, "I don't want to! I don't want to be a tag tamer anymore!"

Gennai patted me on the back and sadly said, "it's too late for that now."

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It was already dark by the time we reached a small village. I was so tired that I barely noticed anything. Gennai took me to a house, and he led me to a bed that I could use for the night. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

The next morning, I was awoken by the sunlight shining in through a window that was suddenly opened. Still half asleep, I turned over and tried to fall back asleep completely. But, a voice said, "Rise and shine, tag tamer! It's a new day!"

It took me about four seconds to realize that it wasn't Gennai who said that to me. My eyes snapped open, and I sat up and looked at the source of the voice. It was another digimon. Unlike the other digimon, who turned out to be a Phantommon, this digimon seemed friendly. He was mostly red, but had some purple stripes. He was small, about the size of a dog. He said, "My name is Elecmon. It is nice to meet you, tag tamer."

I was stunned, so I just said, "…likewise…"

Elecmon smiled and said, "Well, you don't want to sleep all day, do you? If you do, you won't get to meet your partner!"

"…Partner?" That was all I could say before Elecmon shoved me out of bed and out the door of the small hut. Once outside, I saw something that was really amazing. There were toys everywhere! And I don't mean regular size toys, either. There were blocks the size of a building! The ground looked to be made of a giant blanket, too. And there were eggs everywhere! I stood there in awe for a moment. Elecmon said, "Yup! This is primary village! This is where all digimon are born! And this is where you will find your partner."

I still didn't know what this "partner" business was all about. But, I couldn't say anything. I was still staring at the giant blocks. Elecmon nudged me over to the field of eggs. he said, "Just walk around until you find the right one!"

Then I had to say something. I said, "But how will I know when I find the right one?"

"You'll know," Elecmon said as he walked away, leaving me in a field of eggs. It was then that I started to wonder if every digimon was like that one. I prayed to the gods that they weren't. 

I was stuck in a field of eggs without any way of getting home. I had almost died the day before, and I was sure I would almost die again. But, for some odd reason, I became preoccupied with finding this "partner" that Elecmon was talking about. So, I walked along the fields of eggs, searching for the right one. Though I didn't know how to know when I had found the right one. "You'll know" wasn't clear enough directions. I sighed and continued to walk along the fields of eggs. 

Suddenly, I felt something pull me to my left. I looked around, and I saw an egg that looked somewhat different from the rest. Well, the pattern wasn't anything special (there were eggs that were spotted and eggs that were checked. All of them were like this) but the egg looked almost like it was glowing. Plus, there was a certain feeling to it. It felt like it was right. There's no other way to explain it.

I knelt down beside the egg and picked it up. It felt warm in my hands. I said, "You must be my "partner," huh? Well, my name is Ryo Akiyama, and I can't wait to meet you."

Then, a bright light surrounded me. I heard a voice say, "You have chosen your partner, young tag tamer. Now you shall go home. When the time comes, we will summon you to the digital world again. Go prepare yourself, tag tamer, and prepare your partner as well."

Then I felt like something was pulling me upwards. The next thing I knew, I was back in the computer chair at my dad's house. I looked to the clock and saw that not even five minutes had passed. At first I thought that I had dozed off. But then, I noticed that the egg was in my arms. I then knew that it was no dream. I had really been to the Digital world, and I really was a tag tamer.

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For quite some time afterward, I didn't get any messages from Gennai or anyone else in the Digital world. So, I spent most of my time making sure that nobody found out about the egg. It wasn't easy; Anya went snooping in my room once and almost found the egg. I barely managed to drive her out. I think she became suspicious after that incident.

I always worried that the egg would be discovered or would hatch while I was at school. So, after a week of having the egg, I began to take it with me and leave it in my locker. This had it's dangers as well. If it hatched at school, somebody might find out about it. But, at that time, I felt that it was safer to have the egg as close to me as possible. Another week passed, and nothing happened. 

Then, the egg hatched.

I'll always remember that day clearly. It happened at the beginning of the day. I was just putting my bag in my locker when a glow began to emit from it. I opened the bag, and I saw that several cracks had formed in the shell. I quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Nobody had. So, holding the egg close to me, I shut my locker and ran down the hallway. A classmate called out to me, "Hey Ryo, where are you going?"

I yelled back to him, "Tell the teacher I'll be a little late."

Thankfully, my classmate didn't ask anymore about the situation. I continued to run, and eventually ended up outside. I hid behind the bleachers by the soccer field. Sitting cross-legged, I watched the egg hatch. A small digimon came out of the egg. It was light blue, and it looked kind of like a pile of frosting. It looked up at me, grinned, then nuzzled against me as it said, "Yay!"

I couldn't help but smile. I said, "Hey, little guy. What's your name?"

"Chicomon," the little digimon, apparently Chicomon, said. I said, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Chicomon. My name is Ryo."

Chicomon bounced happily and said, "It's nice to meet you too, partner!"

It may have only been a moment since we met, but we were bound together for life at that moment. Nothing could separate us again, such was the power of our bond. It's hard to believe that this little digimon meant so much to me, but he did. It was then that I began to understand the concept of a "partner."

Of course, our peaceful time together only lasted a moment. Then, a teacher came out to see if I was alright. I hid Chicomon in a nearby bush and told him to stay there until I got out of school. He didn't look to happy, but he agreed. I went back into the school to continue my day of learning, hoping that Chicomon would stay out of trouble.

Yeah, like that really would have happened.

Chicomon turned out to be a digimon that liked to explore and try new things. So, he decided that the bush was boring, and that he wanted to check out the rest of the school. He smelt the smell of food cooking coming from the school kitchens, so he decided to check that out first.

Of course, I didn't know about this. I was in class, attempting to pay attention as the teacher rambled on about world history. It was hard, though. I was busy wondering about what would happen, now that Chicomon had hatched from his egg. Then, at about 12:00, an announcement came over the intercom. It was the principal. He said in a hurried voice, "Teachers, take your students to the soccer field. We have an….incident. Be sure to avoid the kitchens when you do so."

I immediately thought that this had something to do with Chicomon. So, instead of going with my class, I snuck off to the kitchens. I ducked underneath one of the cutting tables and looked around. I saw that we were having mystery meat and rice again, yuck! I also saw that there was a lot of cooking stuff in a kitchen. There were pots and pans off to one corner, a giant dish washer, three refrigerators, three giant walk in freezers, Two stoves and ovens, lots of tables for putting trays on, and an office for the kitchen workers. There were also these weird rubber mats on the floor, probably for traction. Posters bearing health procedures were all over the walls. The cafeteria was through a door right next to the tables. Currently, the workers seemed to be scouring the cafeteria for something, probably whatever caused the disturbance. 

Since the workers seemed to be distracted, I took this time to get out from underneath the table and look for Chicomon in the kitchen. It didn't take long to find him. He was hiding in between two of the refrigerators while shaking like mad and crying. I knelt down by where he was and said, "Chicomon?"

Chicomon whimpered and looked up at me. As soon as he saw me, he jumped up into my arms. He said, "Ryo! I was so scared! I was just a little hungry, and I went to find something to eat. The good smells brought me here, and those weird people started attacking me! Waaaaah!"

I held him close, tears beginning to form in my eyes. I should have known better than to leave him alone! He was only a baby, after all. I said, "Don't worry, Chicomon. I won't let them hurt you."

This seemed to calm him down a little bit. Well, at least he stopped crying. I then stood up as I said, "Let's go home."

"Home," Chicomon said, "Where's that?"

"I'll show you," I said as I walked out of the kitchen.

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End Chapter 2.


	3. Chapter 3

Author: And here's Chapter 3! Enjoy!

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Some time later, I arrived home. Dad wouldn't be home until 17:00, so it was just Chicomon and me. I walked in the door, removed my shoes, and put my book bag in a nearby chair. I then set Chicomon on the kitchen counter and said, "So, how would you like some lunch?"

Chicomon bounced up and down happily and said, "Yeah! Food!"

I Smiled as I pulled out a box of rice and a pot to cook it in. Aha, the food of a champion! Simple to make, too. I made a lot, because I didn't know how hungry Chicomon was. As I was cooking, Chicomon was looking around the kitchen and dining room (which was part of the kitchen). He would ask me what random things were and what they did. It was actually kind of cute. 

It wasn't until the rice was done that I wondered how Chicomon was going to eat it. He didn't have any hands, so he couldn't hold chopsticks. While I was contemplating this, I took two bowls and filled them with rice. Then I grabbed a set of chopsticks and took everything to the table. Chicomon had hopped over there earlier. I set one bowl in front of him, then took a seat. Chicomon immediately shoved his face into the bowl of rice and practically inhaled all his rice. I sweat dropped as I thought _well, at least the eating problem is solved._

I spent most of the afternoon teaching Chicomon about different things in the house. After a little incident shortly following lunch, he quickly learned what a toilet was. I also found a place to hide him when Dad got home. I had a feeling that Dad shouldn't know about Chicomon. Same for my sisters. 

Dad came home early that day, at about 14:00. Chicomon quickly hid in his hiding place. Dad looked really upset. He said, "Ryo, your school called me today."

__

Oh man, I thought, _I should have known the school would call Dad if I just went home!_

But, I didn't say anything. Don't admit to anything until you are accused. Those are the wise words of an old friend. Dad continued, "It seems that, after a fire drill, you didn't go back to class. What did you do?"

"I came home," I answered, trying to sound calm. Dad narrowed his eyes and said, "Ryo, you know that you can't just go home whenever you want. You have to stay in school all day, unless you are too sick to stay. And you definitely shouldn't be going anywhere unless somebody knows where you are going. You could have been kidnapped or something. "

I shrugged. Dad said, "I'm glad you are alright, but you will be punished for this. No computer or television, except for watching the news or using the computer for homework, for a week."

I groaned. Not only had Dad cut me off from my favorite source of entertainment, he had remembered about my project and had made sure that I wouldn't have an excuse not to do it. At that time in life for me, that was adding insult to injury. I said, "Aw, come on Dad! Isn't that a little harsh? I mean, it's not like I was doing drugs or something."

Dad shook his head and said, "The punishment stands. Now, go do your homework."

I sighed, picked up my book bag, and went to my room. I made sure to slam the door behind me. I tossed the book bag on the floor and looked around my room for a moment.

I really liked my room. My bed, which was against the wall to my left, had a green and red blanket and green sheets. My pillow had a green pillowcase, too. There was a medium sized circular rug on the wood floor that had a pattern of spiraling red, blue, and green. There was also a loose board under the rug. That served as my hiding place for all my special things. I thought about hiding Chicomon there at first, but he was too big to fit there. My computer was sitting on a table directly across from the door. The chair, which had my coat hanging on it, was sitting beside it. Behind the computer was a window. To the left of the computer was a door that went to a closet. To the right of the door I had entered my room in was my dresser and bookcase. My bookcase had a small TV, a Play station, and several games. The play station would probably be replaced soon, though, because rumors said that a Play station 2 was coming out soon. There was also a Wonderswan and a couple games on the book shelf. There were also a lot of magazines and a few issues of a manga I liked to read. There were a couple books, but those were few and far between. There were random articles of clothes scattered about my room. I was never a clean kid. The walls of my room, which were white, had several gaming posters on them. 

I dropped my book bag into the chair and jumped onto my bed. I landed on my back. Sighing, I said, "Man, this is not fair!"

"What's not fair," Chicomon said as he came out of his hiding spot. He hopped onto my stomach. I said, "My Dad won't let me use the computer for a week."

"Why not," Chicomon asked. I said, "Well, I wasn't supposed to leave school when I did. So, I got in trouble."

Chicomon smiled and said, "Oh, so that's what that place was called? Well, I wouldn't want to stay there, either!"

I chuckled and said, "Well, I don't have much of a choice right now. When I get older, I won't have to go to school. But for now, I have to go every Monday through Saturday. Luckily, I get one day off every week for playing and stuff like that."

Chicomon bounced happily and said, "Let's play now!"

I smiled and sat up. I said, "Alright," then set Chicomon down on my pillow as I got up and went over to my Play station. I said, "I can teach you how to play video games. Dad never said I couldn't play video games."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next couple weeks passed by pretty quickly. Chicomon would go to school with me and stay in my locker. I would bring him food at lunch, and he would be quiet until I came back for him at the end of the day. Things worked out for that time.

One day, I decided to stop by the river on my way home. It had been the last day of the school year that day. I had just finished the fourth grade, and I was in a good mood. I thought it would be a good day to teach Chicomon about sand castles. Once there, I set down my bag carefully (Chicomon was in there) and said, "How would you like to learn about sand castles, Chicomon?"

Chicomon replied weakly, "I'm not feeling to good, Ryo…."

This worried me. I quickly opened my bad and pulled Chicomon out. He did look kinda sick. He was a bit lighter in color than usual, and he had a sad look on his face. I said, "Chicomon! What's wrong?!"

"I...dunno…," Chicomon responded, "I think it might have been something I ate…"

I silently cursed the school food. Then, I pulled a water bottle out of my bag while I said, "Well, don't worry. Here, drink some water. It'll make you feel better."

Chicomon latched onto the water bottle and began to drink. As he did so, he began to glow. Then, he grew a little bigger. When the glowing stopped, Chicomon didn't look like Chicomon anymore. He now had more than a head, though his head was still the biggest part of his body. He had a little body now, with little arms and legs. He was mostly blue, but he had a small spot of white on his stomach. And his head, which was now round, had little ears sticking out of it. He stopped drinking and said, "Wow, I do feel better!"

His voice had changed as well. It had been high pitched before. Now it sounded a little lower than before, though it was still kinda high for a boy. I just stared at him for a moment, then said, "You ch.changed!"

Chicomon looked down at his body. He then jumped up and said, "Woah, I did change! I'm Chibimon now!"

"Chibimon," I said thoughtfully. Chibimon nodded and said, "Yeah, I digivolved!"

"That's so cool," I said, "Do you think you will digivolve anymore?"

"Probably," Chibimon said, "Digimon digivolve quite a few times in their life. Now, what were you saying about building a sand castle?"

I began building a sand castle. Chibimon watched intently. When I finished, he said, "That's a sand castle?"

I nodded. Chibimon said, "That's so cool!"

Then he began to build his own sand castle. I smiled as I watched him. As he built, he said, "Can we go swimming too?"

I said, "Sure."

By that time, I was very busy thinking about what we would do the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that.

By that time, I had already forgotten about the peril in the Digital world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For several months, nothing really happened. Chibimon hadn't digivolve again, though he had grown stronger. I started the fifth grade two weeks after Chicomon digivolved to Chibimon. My eleventh birthday passed as well. It was now July, and I was out of school for the summer. It was July 31st, to be exact. The importance of that won't come until later.

By this time, things had changed quite a bit. Dad had gotten a promotion at work. That meant that he would be traveling overseas five different weeks of the year, and I would be staying with Mom, her boyfriend, Anya, and Claire. One of those weeks just happened to be this week.

It was difficult to smuggle Chibimon into the house. I had hidden him in my book bag, which had a few things that I would need from my house. But, the bag was waterproof, so I had to leave the zipper open a little bit so that Chibimon could breathe. Dad dropped me off at Mom's house, and decided to chat for a while with Mom's boyfriend. 

Mom's boyfriend talked with Dad for a while, then glanced at my bag. I stiffened, worried that he had discovered Chibimon. He said, "Ryo, your bag is open."

I sighed in relief, then began to freak. If I closed my bag, Chibimon wouldn't have any air. If I didn't, Mom's boyfriend would figure out that something was up, then check my bag and find Chibimon. So, I closed my bag, hoping that the conversation would be short.

Unfortunately, it wasn't. Dad and Mom's boyfriend talked for quite some time. It was strained talk, that's for sure. The tension was so think that you could cut it with a knife. I think that the only reason that they were still talking was because they wanted to get the better of each other in front of me. It wasn't really helping me, that's for sure.

After ten minutes, I heard muffled breathing struggling coming from my bag. Chibimon was about to be suffocated. I was so worried that I yelled out, "Oh no!"

Dad and Mom's boyfriend turned and stared at me. I quickly said, "I really gotta pee, or I'll pee my pants!"

Then, I quickly ran inside the house and to my room. Actually, it was the guest bedroom, but I used it whenever I stayed there. It was pretty nice. There was blue stuff all over. Blue sheets, blue walls, blue everything. I think my Mom really liked blue. 

I quickly opened up the bag, and Chibimon burst out, breathing heavily. I sweat dropped and said, "Sorry, Chibimon! Mom's boyfriend noticed, and I had to shut the bag."

After he caught his breath, Chibimon said, "it's alright. Just…give me some warning next time."

The first couple days went by without any suspicion. A problem arose, though. Chibimon ate almost as much as another person, and I had to constantly sneak to the kitchen to get him food. Mom eventually noticed, and she told her boyfriend. He brought it up at dinner one night. "A lot of food has been disappearing," He said, "Now, if one of you sneaked another pet into the house, you better come forward now. If you do, punishment will be light."

"Wasn't me," Claire said as she ate some pork, "I haven't tried that since that time I brought a cat home."

"I've been too busy to have a pet," Anya replied simply. Everyone looked to me, and I said, "Nope. No pets here."

It was the truth. Chibimon was my partner, not my pet. Mom's boyfriend said, raising his voice slightly, "When I find out who it is…."

Mom put a hand on his arm and said, "Chou, please calm down."

Mom's boyfriend, Chou, moved his arm away from Mom and went back to eating. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. After dinner, I went to my room and sat on my bed. Chibimon came out of his hiding spot and said, "Was it bad? I heard voices get louder."

"It wasn't that bad," I said, "Mom just found out about the missing food."

I then looked over to the calendar on the wall. Only two more days until Dad returned. Then, I would be able to go home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End Chapter 3. Like so far?


	4. Chapter 4

Author: And here's chapter 4! Enjoy!

Note: Shinta and Yutaro are two random Japanese names I pulled out of my ass. This is not a crossover. Ditto for the name Chou.

Warning: Child abuse in this chapter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day was the worst day of my life, sans those few weeks before I got banished. It was going to rain later in the day, so I was going to take Chibimon to the park before the rain. As I was getting dressed, Chibimon was sitting on the bed looking at some pictures. About a moth before that, Chibimon and I had gotten a disposable camera and took some pictures of us at the park. There were some of us swinging, some of Chibimon playing on the slide, and some of us on the jungle gym. There was one rally cool one of Chibimon and I hanging upside-down on the monkey bars. It was tilted slightly sideways, because I had to hold the camera out at arms length to take the picture. That one was my favorite, so I stuck it in my pocket when I got done getting dressed. 

Today, I was wearing an orange sweater and green pants. Don't ask me why I was wearing a sweater in summer, because I don't know why. I grabbed my bag, Chibimon inside, and went out to the living room. I told my Mom I was going to the park, then went out the door.

Chibimon and I had a fun time at the park. He liked the slides the best. We played for several hours, and we had a lot of fun.

Then, a couple of my friends came to the park. Chibimon quickly hid in my bag, and I went to talk to them. The first one, a blue-haired kid named Yutaro, said, "Hey Ryo! How've you been?"

"Fine and dandy," I said, falling into my "too cool to be real" façade, "How have you three been?"

"Alright," the second, a black haired boy named Shinta said, "It's just been boring. Man, we need action around here!"

The third boy, a blonde named Andrew, was silent. His family had just moved here from France, and he didn't speak Japanese well. But, he and I chatted in French whenever none of our other friends were around. (My parents didn't divorce until I was six, So I had learned French from my mom at a young age.) Andrew was a tad embarrassed about it, though, so he didn't speak French when our other friends were around. 

I said, "Well, what should we do?"

Shinta and Yutaro said, at the same time, "Soccer!"

I smirked. These two were soccer fanatics, and they played soccer every chance they had. Andrew said, " I would like play soccer too."

I smiled at him and was about to agree, but then it began to rain. I said, "Aw man! I have to go home now."

"But Ryo," Shinta said, carrying out the o five extra syllables, "Soccer is fun to play in the rain!"

"I know," I said, "But I'm staying at my Mom's right now, and her boyfriend would get mad if I got these clothes muddy."

"Alright," Yutaro said in a resentful tone. Andrew smiled at me and said, "Have good afternoon, Ryo-kun."

I left the park, heading for home. The rain began to pick up, and I ran faster. I reached home not a second too late. But, only danger waited for me inside that door.

As soon as I had gone inside and slipped off my shoes, a voice from the living room called, "Ryo! Get in her now!"

It was Chou, my Mom's boyfriend. His voice was full of menace. I set my bag down and precariously walked into the living room, not knowing what to expect. Chou was standing up by the coffee table, an angry look on his face. Mom was sitting on the couch, trying her best not to make eye contact with anyone. Anya and Claire were nowhere to be found. At first I didn't understand what was going on. Then, I cast a glance at the coffee table. There were several pictures on it.

__

Oh god, I thought, _I forgot to put the pictures away this morning!_

Chou noticed me looking at the pictures, so he said, "Care to explain this?"

I thought over my words carefully before I said anything. He was already pretty pissed, and saying the wrong thing would only make things worse. After a moment, I said, "Well, those are pictures of me and Chibimon."

"Chibimon," Chou said, sounding spiteful, "Is that the name of this…_pet_?"

He practically spat out the last word. I answered, "No, Chibimon isn't a pet. He's my digimon partner."

Chou glared at me and his voice went up a little when he said, "I don't chare what he is! He's a pet, and I won't tolerate pets in my house!"

I glared back at him as I said, "who made you boss of the world? And this isn't your house, either."

Chou backhanded me for that remark. I stumbled back a bit, more surprised than hurt. My cheek did sting a tad, but I was more worried about Chibimon than myself. Chou said, "I will not tolerate being insulted in my own house!"

My mom stood up then and said, "Chou, please…."

Chou slapped her and said, "Sit down, bitch! I wasn't talking to you!"

I lost it then. I had seen the bruises on my Mom's arms before, but I'd never actually seen her get hit. And, he had called this house "his house" again. That in itself pissed me off. It caused me to go over the edge. I yelled, "Who do think you are?! You can't just go hit my Mom for no reason! And this isn't your house! It's Mom's! You're just a freeloader who lives off Mom!"

Chou turned back to me, and the look he gave me scared me a bit. That look was full of malice and hate. Chou walked up to me and punched me in the face. The punch knocked me back into the wall that separated the doorway from the living room. Then, he grabbed me around the front of my shirt and held me about a foot off the ground. He then glared at me and said, "You think you're hot shit, don't you. Well, I'll teach you whose the boss around here!"

Then, he wrapped his arms around my neck and tried to strangle me. I struggled to get free from his grip as I was slowly running out of air. I kicked the wall several times in my attempt. I remember faintly hearing my Mom call out for him to stop, but that didn't help. If anything, it made Chou tighten his grip on my neck.

I thought I was a dead guy then and there. My lungs were screaming for air. I was loosing the strength to struggle, and everything was getting blurry. Then, everything started turning black.

Then, all the pain suddenly disappeared. The next thing I knew, I was laying on the floor, and somebody, probably Chou, was screaming. My lungs then burned as fresh air went into them. My sight gradually returned, and I could see what had happened. Chibimon had gotten out of my bag when he heard me kicking the wall. He saw what was going on, and attacked Chou instantly. Now, he was latched onto Chou's arm, biting as hard as he could as Chou flailed his arm in an attempt to get Chibimon to let go. As soon as I was strong enough to, I stood up, resting my back against the wall for support, and called out, "Chibimon! Stop!"

Chibimon immediately let go and jumped into my arms. Chou looked at his bleeding arm, then at Chibimon. He then tried to grab Chibimon out of my arms, saying something about, "Teaching that blue rat a lesson."

I refused to let go. He punched me in the stomach a few times, but I wouldn't let go. Then, he gave up and walked to the kitchen. I took this time to make my way to the front door and slip my shoes on. I threw my bag into the bushes first, knowing that I wasn't strong enough to carry it and run at the same time, and I would have to come back for it. Just as I walked out the door, I heard Chou come back. Chibimon, who had been hanging onto my arm, said, "Ryo, look out!"

I turned just as Chou tried to stab Chibimon with a butcher knife. So, instead of stabbing Chibimon, he stabbed me. In the left side.

Chou, who had apparently not meant to stab me, quickly pulled out the knife. I, being too weak to stand anymore, fell down the front stairs and landed on my uninjured side. Nobody moved for a second. Then, Chibimon said, "Ryo," as he jumped off me and landed by my head, "Ryo! Please, answer me!"

I flinched in pain as I reached around my waist with my right and felt the wound. It stung when I touched it, and it was bleeding profusely. I remember hearing my Mom scream, and Chou telling her to shut up. But, those things felt distant, unimportant. The only thing I was really focused on was Chibimon. He looked at me worriedly and said, "Ryo, please say that you'll be alright…."

I said, "Chi..Chibimon…."

Chibimon whimpered and curled up next to me, right below my chin. He said, "I'm not gonna leave you, Ryo."

I used my left arm to pull him closer to my chest in a weird half-hug. By now, the rain was pouring down, and we were both soaked. The rain and my blood were mixing into a gross opaque liquid that was running down the cracks in the sidewalk. I thought, _Is this how I'm destined to die? It can't be…_

Then, I felt a white light surround me, and all my pain disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next thing I remember is being in a warm bed. I kept my eyes closed for a moment, wanting the warmth to engulf me. But, I knew I had to get up eventually. So, I opened my eyes and glanced around. I quickly found Chibimon; he was laying next to my side that was injured. After I found him, I looked at the room. This room I was in looked almost like a hospital room. Everything was white or off-white. There wasn't any of that electrical stuff, though. Just the bed, a door, and a chair that was currently being occupied by a man that looked to be very old. He looked eerily familiar, though. He looked as though he was sleeping.

I sat up and grimaced as I felt pain return to my left side. I looked down and noticed that the stab wound was bandaged up. Thick gauze was wrapped around my waist area, and it felt especially thick at the spot where I had gotten stabbed. I also noticed that my shirt had been removed, probably so that they could bandage me up. I looked to the edge of my bed and saw that it was there; it had even been cleaned and sewed up. My shoes and bag were beside the bed as well.

The man noticed me, looked up, and said, "Well, it's about time you woke up. You've been asleep for almost four days."

"Sorry," I said, "I guess I was more exhausted than I thought."

I stopped. After studying the man for a moment, I said, "You look familiar…have we met?"

"Well of course we have," the man said, "I am Gennai."

I stared at this guy who claimed to be Gennai for a moment, then said, "There's no way you can be Gennai. I met Gennai a few months ago, and he was much younger than you."

"True," the man said, "But, the time in the Digital world flows a lot faster than in the real world. Years have passed. That is why I look much older than I was."

I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not, but I decided to believe him. He did look a little bit like Gennai. And I guessed that anything was possible. It was then that Chibimon woke up. He looked at me, smiled and bounced up and down as he said, "Yay! Yay! You're awake!"

I said, "Woah, calm down, Chibimon!"

Gennai simply laughed and said, "He seems hyper. That's a good thing, too. You'll need a lot of energy to survive until the chosen children arrive."

I looked at Gennai and said, "Chosen children?"

"Yes, chosen children. They are a bit different from you. While they are only needed to guard the crests and give their power to their digimon to aid them in the digivolve process, a lot more will be expected of you. You'll be expected to learn a lot of magic spells, and you'll have to fight alongside your digimon on some occasions."

I nodded at this. Then, I said, "Sweet! Magic? That'll be awesome! Will I be able to do things like make fire?"

Gennai held up his hands and said, "Hold on there. It will take you some time to learn all that stuff. First off, you have to heal. As soon as you are done healing, then your learning shall begin."

I sighed and said, "Alright."

Then, a thought came to me. I said, "Hey Gennai, if the chosen children are coming, why do you need me?"

"Things are very bad now," Gennai answered, "Even worse than before. The chosen children won't be here for at least another year, and we need all the help we can get in suppressing the evil until they get here."

Somehow, I liked this idea. After all, I had always wanted to have an adventure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


It didn't take me long to heal. But, I'll always have a scar on my left side. Just as Gennai promised, my learning began right after I was done healing. Though, there wasn't much teaching by a teacher. As it turns out, Gennai was a firm believer in the saying "experience is the best teacher." So, I was only taught the bare basics, then I was left to develop them as I saw fit. 

I remember that day well. Actually, I laugh at the memory. Gennai took me and Chibimon out to a rice field by a digimon village. Once there, he said, "Alright, here we are."

I looked around and said, "Ok, what now?"

Gennai smiled and tossed me a small device. Then, he said, "Here is your digivice. Now, you are on your own," and disappeared.

I stared at the place where Gennai had stood for a moment, then freaked out and yelled, "That's it?! But..hey! What do I do now?!"

Of course, he didn't answer. Chibimon said, "I think we're on our own."

And that's how things began. Lots of stuff happened after that. I learned how to get along in the digital world pretty well, and my powers increased greatly. I even learned a little bit of kendo. The reaction the digimon in villages gave me took a while to get used to. None of the digimon were used to seeing humans, and they all stared at me. All the time. Well, for the first couple years, at least. 

Not much happened for about a year. I just got stronger, as did Chibimon. But, he hadn't digivolved to the next level yet. We had been in a fair amount of battles, though, and he proved to be quite a fighter. Then, one day, we crossed paths with a digimon called Gazimon. We were walking on a trail through the forest, when we saw him up ahead. The Gazimon eyed us, then smirked as he said, "Well, what do you know. I was sent to destroy a human kid with a Chibimon, and I find him on the first day of my search. It must be my lucky day."

I looked to Chibimon and said, "You ready?"

Chibimon nodded, and we stood in a ready stance, waiting for the Gazimon to attack. It launched itself at me, claws extended. I jumped out of the way and cast a fireball at it. The Gazimon howled in pain as it turned to face me. It jumped at me again, and this time it hit me, knocking me into a tree. It's claws had hit me in the shoulder, causing me to flinch in pain. Chibimon saw that I was in danger and tried to attack the Gazimon with his pop attack (1), but it didn't work. Things didn't look too good. Gazimon was just too powerful. Of course, now that I look back on it, it was kinda pathetic. I mean, Gazimon was only a rookie digimon, and he was kicking our tails. But, everything is obvious in hindsight.

Anyways, back to the point. I was about to get annihilated by this Gazimon, and Chibimon was too weak to help me. It was then, in this moment of helplessness, that my digivice activated. It caused Chibimon to digivolve to his rookie form, V-mon. Then things were a little more even. V-mon took out this Gazimon with one kick. I was pretty impressed at his newfound strength. Gazimon's code went off to Primary village, where it would become a digimon once again. Only it'd be good this time.

After V-mon digivolved, we didn't have much problems. About four years passed, and by then we were a pretty strong team. One thing that is worth pointing out is that I did not age during those four years. Gennai pointed out, in one of his rare messages that he would send us, that My body was still "in tune" with the real world. So, my aging process was controlled by that time frame. So, basically, in four years, I'd only aged about a day. 

During those four years, I had aged quite a bit mentally. I acted in a more adult manner now; I thought things through before acting, and I now treated everyone with patience and caring. Well, everyone who was good, that is. 

Those four years eventually passed by, and then it happened. I probably could have avoided banishment easily if this didn't happen. If this had not happened, I might not have done the things I did. That day is still imprinted on me and will always remain with me. 

That day is the day I met Ichijouji Ken.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(1): I couldn't remember Chibimon's Japanese attack, so I used his English attack.


	5. Chapter 5

Author: And here's chapter 5! Enjoy!

Warning: From this chapter on, there will be shounen-ai (Boys kissing and such). But, there will be no Yaoi (Boy/boy sex) in this story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't get me wrong; I don't dislike the fact that I met that kid. I just regret the fact that all that bad stuff happened because I knew Ken. It was never his fault, though I think he blames himself. If you ever see him, please tell him that it isn't his fault. It was my fault. 

Now, back to my story. That day seemed to be like any other. The sun was shining, there was a good wind coming from the west, and there wasn't an evil digimon in sight. On that day, V-mon and I decided to go fishing. We decided that we'd go to the beach and fish, rather than fish in the river like we usually did. That was mainly for a change of atmosphere. 

As we walked down the beach, I saw something partially buried in the sand. My curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to dig it up. When I did, I was surprised to find that it was a small boy and a digimon. The digimon was a Wormmon, and it looked to be unconscious. The small boy was barely conscious. He said, "Please…help Wormmon…" then passed out. I dragged the boy and the Wormmon to the shade of some nearby trees and had V-mon go get some fresh water. I knelt down beside the boy and dumped the water down the throats of the boy and the Wormmon, hoping that they would wake up after drinking some water. It turned out that they were just suffering from dehydration. 

After dumping the water down the boy's throat, he groaned and opened his eyes. He said, "Wh..Where am I?"

"The Digital world," I responded, "I found you and that Wormmon partially buried in the sand. Are you two alright?"

The boy instantly sat up. He said, "Wormmon! Where's Wormmon?!"

"Woah woah," I said, "Calm down! He's right next to you."

The boy instantly looked to both of his sides, searching frantically for the digimon. When he found it, he sighed and picked it up. He held it close as he said, "Wormmon's alright…"

I said, "Yup, he's alright. But, are you alright?"

The boy nodded and said, "I think so, yeah. Wormmon and I were walking around, when an evil digimon attacked us. It threw sand at us and buried us! I tried to dig us out, but I wasn't strong enough…."

The boy then looked like he was about to cry. He said, "I don't like this world anymore! I wannah go home!"

I sighed and said, "Aw, don't fret. The Digital world isn't all scary."

The boy stopped crying for a moment and said, "..it isn't?"

"Nope," I said, "There are lots of good things about it. There are a lot of cool digimon, and what few people that are here are usually nice. So, are you a tag tamer too?"

"A tag tamer," The boy said, "What's that?"

I said, "That's what I am. Tag tamers take care of the digital world. They make sure that the evil digimon don't get too powerful."

The boy thought about that for a minute, then said, "I dunno if I am or not."

I said, "Well, did you meet Gennai?"

"Who's Gennai?"

I assumed that, seeing as how he didn't know who Gennai was, that he hadn't met him. "Strange," I said, "If you are a tag tamer, you should have met him. Is Wormmon your partner?"

The boy nodded happily and said, "Yeah! Wormmon is my partner! I know that for sure! I found him shortly after I got this."

The boy held up a digivice that looked like mine. Well, his was gray and black, but the design was the same. "Hmm. Odd," I said thoughtfully, "You have a partner, yet you haven't met Gennai. You don't know what a tamer is, yet you have a digivice. Maybe I'm supposed to train you to be a tag tamer."

"But that wouldn't make sense," V-mon said, "You weren't trained by another tag tamer. Why would he?"

"Maybe it's something new," I said, "I've been a tag tamer for some time. It might be a new way of teaching young tag tamers. Apprenticeship works well."

I stood up and offered the boy a hand. I said, "Well, I'd be glad to teach you to be a tag tamer. My name is Akiyama Ryo, and I am 11 years old."

The boy smiled and let me help him onto his feet. He said, "It is nice to meet you, Ryo. My name is Ichijouji Ken, and I am 8."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ken and I got along real well. Ken was eager to learn everything there was to know about being a tag tamer. It did take him quite some time to learn even the simplest of spells, though. Wormmon was glad to be with us as well. He was happy, because he and Ken were safe from any real danger while I trained Ken. 

We traveled around the digital world for a few months together. It was a pretty carefree time. It was kinda cute to watch Ken discover everything there is to know about the Digital world. He seemed to marvel at every little thing in the Digital world. Curiosity was always a trait of his.

By now Ken and I had grown pretty close. He was almost like a little brother to me. So, I treated him like a little brother. I always kept an eye out for him and made sure he was never hungry. I tried to make sure he had a nice place to sleep, but that's kind of hard when you are a tag tamer.

We hardly aged over those few months. Well, physically, anyways. And we learned a lot of stuff, too. We learned that the chosen children had arrived in the digital world at the same time Ken did. Currently, they were on the continent of Server. Since they were attacked by Vamdemon, they had been making their movements discreet. But, word had it that they were headed towards Vamdemon's castle. We, of course, were someplace else at the time. We couldn't help them. Not that we could, though. Tag tamers aren't supposed to be known to the chosen children. So, we were heading off to another continent. There were rumors of another evil rising there, so we were going to go stop it before it had time to grow. 

It was then that Gennai decided to make a live appearance. You could say that I was a little angry at him. After all, he dumped me off to survive on my own nearly four years ago, and, save a few emails, he hadn't been in contact with me since. 

Gennai looked distressed. I said, "Well, look at what we have here. The omnipotent Gennai decided to make an appearance."

"This is no time for jokes," Gennai said, "And I'm far from omnipotent. A grave error has occurred."

He glanced down at Ken. "Ken here isn't a tag tamer. The powers that be are still trying to figure out how he arrived anywhere near where he did, when he was supposed to land on File Island."

"Woah woah woah," I said, "Back up. What do you mean, 'Ken isn't a tag tamer?'"

"precisely what I said," Gennai said, "He is not a tag tamer. He is a chosen child. The child of Kindness, to be exact. And, he was supposed to come here with Taichi and the others."

"Taichi," Ken said, "Who's that?"

"The leader of the chosen children," Gennai said, "You'll be meeting him soon. But first, you must go back to the Real world."

I was confused then. If the chosen children were in the Digital world, why did Ken need to go to the real world? I voiced my question, and Gennai said, "Because the chosen children will be there soon. And, Vamdemon will be there as well. Ken needs to be there."

"Alright," I said, "We'll go then."

Gennai shook his head and said, "No, only Ken and Wormmon are going. You and Veemon have to stay here."

I glared at Gennai and stepped in front of Ken protectively. "Ken doesn't go anywhere without me. If he goes to the Real world, then so do I."

"Not this time," Gennai said, "It is best that you cooperate with me, Ryo. Ken could make or break our future, and he needs to be there. I'll fight you if necessary, but I hope it doesn't come to that."

As much as I hated it, I let Ken go with Gennai. Gennai was stronger than me. I could sense it. Ken seemed worried, but I assured him that everything would be alright. And I silently added to myself that I'd go there and find him. 

A couple days passed, and I was feeling lonely without Ken. But, I was working as hard as I could to find a way to the real world. Then, I realized my opportunity. If I found the chosen children, then I could go with them back to the Real world! I knew that Gennai had told me to stay in the Digital world, but I couldn't help myself.

I searched for weeks, and I finally found out where they were. They had found a gate in Vamdemon's castle, and they were already in the real world. The gate had also been destroyed after they had used it. So, that was out of the question. I began to ask around, and I discovered another way out of the Digital world. 

At random places all over the Digital world, there were television sets. If one knew how to work them, then one could go to the Real world. I quickly set out to find one of these television sets, even though I had no idea how to use them. I found one quickly. But, I didn't know how to use it. I knelt down beside it and thought. Then, I got the idea to use my digivice somehow, but nothing happened when I pushed the buttons. In frustration, I slammed my fist down on the ground and said, "Come on! Work, damnit!"

Then, the digivice began to glow. I looked at it closely, and saw that it was changing shape. When the glowing stopped, I inspected it further. It had become slightly bigger, and it was now white with two small parts that were orange. I said, "Wow, my digivice changed."

"be careful Ryo," V-mon warned, "That could be dangerous."

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," I said as I began to press buttons. But, nothing happened. So, I yelled out, "What do I have to do to get this thing to work?! Hold it up to the screen and tell it to open a portal?!"

Luckily, I had been holding it close to the screen at the moment I said that. The screen began to glow, and V-mon and I were sucked into it. We went spiraling down the tunnel of light, heading to who knows where. The next thing I knew, V-mon and I stumbled out of a computer and into a room. It took me a second to get my bearings straight, but when I did, I saw Ken and Wormmon. Ken looked upset, and Wormmon looked worried. I said, "Ken? Wormmon?"

They both turned to me and smiled. Ken said, "Ryo! You followed me!"

Ken hugged me, and I grinned and said, "Yup. It took me a while, but I managed to get back here!"

"A while," Ken said as he let go of me and backed up a pace, "But it's only been about ten minutes since I got here."

"Time is different in both worlds, remember," I said, "It's been over a month in the digital world. I've missed you, my friend."

Suddenly, a voice from the other side of the bedroom door said, "Ken, who are you talking to?"

"Nobody Nii-chan," Ken quickly replied, "I'm just playing!"

__

Ken has an older brother, I thought,_ that's cool. I wonder what he's like._

Then, Ken's brother said, "I'm coming in there."

The door opened…

…and I was staring into the face of the most attractive guy I had ever seen in my life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author: Sorry, I know this is a short chapter. But, I wanted to leave off at that point. ^^


	6. Chapter 6

Author: Here's Chapter 6! Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm not really gay, first off. I think I'm bi, because I've been attracted to my fair share of girls as well. But nobody could compare to Ichijouji Osamu. He had gorgeous blunette hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a green hooded t-shirt with a blue long-sleeve shirt underneath and jeans. He also had glasses, but that only added to his attractiveness. It would have been difficult to not be attracted to Osamu. I stood up quickly, fighting the urge to blush. He was also just slightly shorter than me. I said, "Sorry for appearing so suddenly. My name is Akiyama Ryo."

The boy raised one eyebrow at me and said, "I'm Ichijouji Osamu…did you just come out of my computer?"

I said, "I guess so, yeah. Oh, and this is V-mon," I pointed to V-mon, who waved, "We kept an eye out for Ken while he was in the digital world."

"Fascinating," Osamu said, not really sounding interested. Nobody said anything, and it was quiet for some time. I decided to break the quiet and said, "So, you're Ken's brother?"

Osamu nodded. "Three years his senior, to be exact."

__

He's the same age as me, I thought, _what luck!_

Then, Ken said, "Nii-chan?"

Osamu looked to ken and said, "Yeah?"

"Can Ryo stay the night?"

"…I'll ask Mom. Just wait a moment."

Osamu walked off, glancing back at me for a moment before he closed the door. I stared at the door, willing Osamu to come back quickly. That way, he'd be close again. Ken got my attention by tugging on my sleeve. He said, "Ryo, are you sick?"

I shook my head and said, "No, why would I be?"

"Well," Ken said, "Your face is all red."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I ended up spending the night at Ken's house. It was bliss, I tell you. Just being near him was enough to make me feel good. I didn't know then if Osamu felt the same way, but I didn't care. Not at that moment, anyways.

We played video games for a while. I kept losing, which was a surprise for me. Then again, it had been about four and a half years since I'd played a video game. That might have been why I sucked. Mrs. Ichijouji made some snacks for us at one point, too. 

Now there was a big problem we had. Mrs. Ichijouji didn't know about the Digital world, and Osamu had a lot of storytelling to cover up my appearance. Mrs. Ichijouji had been in the living room, and she would have seen me come in the front door. So, Osamu said that I came in through the sliding glass door in his and Ken's room. Luckily, she believed him.

I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor of Ken and Osamu's room. The two Ichijouji boys had bunk beds; Ken slept on the top, and Osamu slept on the bottom. Ken fell asleep right away. I felt kinda giddy. I was sleeping only a few feet away from my crush. I know, I had just met him, but it was "love" at first sight. Osamu didn't seem to notice my affections, though. Or, if he did, he didn't show that he did.

The next day, Osamu and Ken agreed to take me home. V-mon and Wormmon came too, of course. They knew something was up, and they wanted to be near us in case anything happened. 

Osamu seemed a little tense. He kept glancing at me and the digimon. It was almost as if he didn't want us to be here. Once, I even caught his eye when he glanced at me. I smiled a little, but he didn't say anything. He just turned away from me. I sighed and stared out the train window. 

After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived at my house. Not my Mom's house, mind you. I'd never go back there even if my life depended on it. We went to my Dad's house. It was early afternoon by then. Of course, we had slept in until noon, and we stopped at the park while walking to my house. The initial trip was only about an hour. My Dad was home. At first I wondered what he would say to me. Then I remembered that I had only been gone for two days in this world.

Dad was glad to see me, though. He thought that I had been kidnapped or something. This surprised me, since he hadn't cared in the past if I disappeared for any length of time. Then, I found the source of the problem. As it turns out, there was a bombing at a club near our house. My Dad thought I might have been there and gotten hurt. Never mind the fact that I dislike clubs. And I guess that Mom and her boyfriend never told him about the knife incident, because he didn't mention anything about it.

Osamu and Ken hung out for the afternoon. Ken had begged to stick around, and Osamu said that he "didn't have anything better to do." And, Tamachi was quite a distance away from Odaiba, too. It wouldn't be worth the traveling time to just stick around a few minutes. So, they stayed for dinner. This was after they received permission from their parents, though. 

We played around outside until dark. Well, Ken, V-mon, Wormmon, and I did, and Osamu watched, for the most part. We played tag and hide-and-seek (Ken liked those games). We also played a little soccer, too. After a while, I decided that letting him sit all alone was not a nice thing, so I told Ken, V-mon, and Wormmon to keep playing, and I went and sat down by Osamu. He was sitting underneath a tree. I said, "Osamu, why don't you play with us?"

Osamu looked at his shoes and said, "I don't want to intervene. You seem to be having plenty of fun without me."

I said, "But you aren't."

"That doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn't."

"Aww, come on. You don't really expect me to believe that, do you?"

"…"

"Thought so." Then, I stood up and grabbed Osamu's arm. He looked at me in surprise, and I smiled at him. A forcibly dragged him towards where Ken and the two digimon were, and said, "You're gonna play soccer with us now."

Osamu started to protest, but it did no good. I said, "Nope, no protesting. You are going to play soccer with us, and that's that."

Osamu smiled slightly and said, "Alright, if you insist."

We had fun playing soccer all afternoon. When it started to get dark, we went inside to eat dinner. The two digimon hid under the table, and we fed them food whenever my Dad wasn't looking. As we were eating dinner, we were watching TV on the small TV that was in the dining room. Though, I wasn't paying attention to the TV. I was looking out the window. I noticed that fog was beginning to settle. I said, "Hey, Osamu."

Osamu looked at me and said, "What is it?"

I said, "It's getting foggy. Will you be alright going home in fog?"

"I don't see why not," Osamu said, "We're taking the train. If you're so worried, I'll check the weather."

Osamu changed the channel to the news. The news guy was wrapping up a report about something. After he finished his report, it switched to the weather. The weather guy said, "A thick fog has rolled in and is causing a lot of problems for residents in the Odaiba area. Due to the fog, all trains, planes, and boats have been postponed or directed to another area of Tokyo. This will cause inconvenience for many people, but there is nothing else that can be done."

I stared at the TV for a moment, then said, "Well, it looks like you won't be going home tonight."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Dad let them stay the night. What else could he do? They were stranded here with no way to get home. Of course, we thought that it wasn't a big deal. Just a little fog that would go away before we knew it.

We were so wrong about that. 

I was the first person awake the next morning. After so many years in the digital world, I quickly learned to be an early riser. Good thing, too. As I looked out the window, I saw some explosions in the distance, followed by a bunch of Bakemon flying around. I stared out the window for a moment, then ran to wake up the others. I told them to get dressed quickly, but I didn't tell them what was going on. They hurried, though, and that was a good thing. We snuck out of the house just minutes before the Bakemon raided it. It wasn't until then that I realized that I had forgotten to warn my Dad. I mentally slapped myself, but I couldn't go back for him. I had to worry about Ken and Osamu. 

We made our way down the street, heading towards the more populated parts of town. We had to be careful, though, because there were lots of Bakemon flying around and causing trouble. 

Eventually, We made it to downtown Odaiba. The sight was quite shocking. There was nobody on the streets besides us. Not a single person. We kept looking around, trying to find somebody who hadn't been taken away by the Bakemon. But, we found nobody. We had quite a few close calls, though. The Bakemon were patrolling some of the streets, and they almost found us a few times. Osamu suggested that we head for the warehouses in Odaiba, because that is the most likely place that people would be hiding. Lots of hiding places were there.

As we rounded the last corner, We saw an explosion. Three digimon, one of which was a Phantommon, were attacking two kids about my age. One, a red-headed girl, was fending off one of the other two digimon with a stick, and the other, a blonde boy, was being choked by the Phantommon. We began to run faster, Ken and I anticipating a fight. But, just as we got closer, another kid walked out of a nearby warehouse. The fighting stopped, and everyone stared at the kid. The kid looked to be about the same age as Ken, and I'm guessing that it was a girl. She was wearing pink shorts, after all. Osamu, Ken, and I stayed back as we watched the events. The girl said something, and the Phantommon looked pleased. Then, a bubble formed around the girl, and she was taken away by the Phantommon and the other two digimon. 

The other two kids looked like they wanted to fight, but the two digimon near them, which I assumed were their digimon, didn't look like they were ready to fight. I started to run to them, but I stopped as the blonde one said something. I couldn't hear all of what he said, but I did hear one thing clearly. The blonde one said the name Taichi.

Now, I'm not proud of what I did next. But you have to understand, I was very protective of Ken. He was like a little brother to me. These two kids obviously had something to do with the Taichi that Gennai had mentioned. How many chosen children could there be in Odaiba? I turned and ran in another direction, Ken and Osamu not far behind. I stopped after we were several blocks away, I stopped to catch my breath. The others caught up, and Osamu said, "Why did you run away?"

"Those kids," I said, "They weren't good news. We had to get away from them."

"But what if they were the chosen children that Gennai spoke of," Ken said, "If they are, then I am supposed to be with them."

I hesitated for a moment, then shook my head. "No, you are not a chosen child. You are a tag tamer, and never forget it."

"But Gennai said-"

"Forget what Gennai said. He doesn't know what he is talking about."

For future reference, that was point one against me in my sedition trial.

Ken looked a little worried, but I assured him that everything would be ok. Osamu, on the other hand, looked miffed. I think he felt resentment because he was clueless as to what we were talking about. I said, "Long story. I'll explain later. Right now, we have to worry about not getting caught."

So, we hid. And hid. And attacked a few random Bakemon. But for the most part, we hid. It was degrading, I tell you. 

After several hours, I was getting frustrated. I began pressing random buttons on my digivice as I said, "Come on you piece of junk! Make V-mon digivolve!"

V-mon sweat dropped and said, "I don't think that's how it works, Ryo…"

Osamu was lounging about lazily on a pile of wood. Ken and Wormmon were sitting on some cement bags. They all looked hungry. So, I volunteered to go get some food. V-mon came as well, of course. We raided a nearby bakery that had been left unattended. I wrote down the address, so that I could pay them back at a later time. As V-mon and I walked back to the warehouse, arms full of bread, I noticed something. There were no digimon on the streets. We should have passed a digimon by now. I glanced at my watch. It was 17:45. I mumbled, "They must be out eating or something…"

V-mon looked to me and said, "huh?"

"Nothing," I said as we reached the warehouse where Ken, Wormmon, and Osamu were. We passed out the food and began to eat it. A short while later, we felt the ground rumble. The whole building shook. At first I thought it was an earthquake. Then, I looked outside and saw that I was very wrong.

A giant digimon had appeared not too far away. I'm not afraid to admit it: That thing scared the shit out of me. It was quite big. If the buildings around it hadn't been leveled, I would have bet that they would have came up to that monster's waist. If that. And it looked very freakish. Kinda like a mutilated spider or something. And it had that feeling of evil, too. 

I knew we couldn't do anything about it. That digimon was obviously of a high level, and V-mon and Wormmon had never digivolved beyond child level. So, we just watched the chosen children fight the big evil digimon. For a while, it seemed as if The chosen children would fail, but something miraculous happened. Something happened, and Two of the digimon were able to reach the ultimate level! I was so amazed. 

After that, they seemed to do just fine in the fight. They emerged victorious. Ken, Wormmon, and V-mon all rejoiced. They thought that the fight was over. Osamu didn't jump for joy, but he did have a smile on his face. My face lit up as well when I saw his smile, too. It was a rare thing to see Ichijouji Osamu smile. 

But, our happiness was short lived. As soon as the fog cleared, We saw something startling. The sky was ripped apart! Sure, parts of it looked like the normal evening sky, but other parts looked like land floating in the sky! And not just any land, either.

"It's the Digital world," Ken cried out in amazement. V-mon was looking up at the sky in disbelief. Osamu was studying it; after all, it was his first time seeing the digital world, even if it was just through a hole in the sky. Wormmon was trying to make sense of what was going on, while I was looking at something else.

I saw eight children and eight digimon standing not too far away. There were five boys and three girls. I saw the red headed girl and the blonde boy from earlier, as well as the little girl who had been taken away. I was glad that she was alright. There was also a boy with dark red hair, a girl with brown hair and a weird pink dress, a boy with blue hair and glasses, a smaller boy with blonde hair (He looked like he could be the other blonde's little brother), and a boy with brown hair and goggles. 

I probably could have sent Ken along with them. I probably should have, too. But I didn't I was a bit selfish then, and I wanted to keep Ken to myself. 

Then, a portal appeared around the eight children and their digimon. They all began to go up into the sky, presumably back to the Digital world. It was at this time Ken noticed them, and he said, "Ryo! They're leaving! Shouldn't we go with them?"

I shook my head. I said, "No, Ken. We shouldn't. We're not like them, remember? And besides, we wouldn't want to leave your brother here all alone, now would we?"

"I guess not," Ken said, sounding a little disappointed. So, the three of us decided to wait around and see what would happen. The holes in the sky provided a way for us to watch the chosen children. It was through those holes that I learned the names of the chosen children. Taichi was the one with the goggles, Hikari was the little girl, Sora was the red-headed girl, Koushiro was the red headed boy, Yamato was the older blonde, Takeru was the younger blonde (and they were brothers, too), Mimi was the girl with brown hair, and Jyou was the boy with blue hair and glasses. 

The five of us watched their adventures. From the meeting with the dark masters to the defeat of the final evil digimon, we saw it all. It was a tad disturbing at times, but what could be expected?

After their fight, the holes in the sky began to disappear, and the sun began to rise. Everyone who had seen the events took it to mean that the danger was over and that everyone was safe. Even we five celebrated. 

Of course, our celebrations were short lived. For it was at that moment that Gennai decided to appear, looking as peeved as ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Author: Well, that's the end of chapter 6! Am I getting good at leaving cliffhangers?


	7. Chapter 7

Author: Chapter 7! Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Osamu was surprised by Gennai's appearance, but Ken, Wormmon, V-mon, and I took little notice. Gennai glared at me and said, "Akiyama Ryo, you are in a lot of trouble."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. I said, "What did I do now? Piss in the local watering hole?"

"You know damn well what you did," Gennai said, obviously not in the mood for my usual heckling, "You did the exact opposite of what I told you to do, you went against the will of the powers that be, You left the digital world in a very vulnerable position, AND you failed to deliver Ken to the chosen children. And that's not including the fact that you told Ken not to listen to me or the powers that be."

I wasn't really interested in listening to that old man babble on. It had been quite a long day. I said, "Care to sum it up, old man? I'd like to go home soon."

"You are a strand away from a treason trial," Gennai said, "Be out of line one more time, and you could be executed."

That surprised me greatly. All I could do was stare at him. After the initial shock wore off, I cast a glance to my friends. Ken and Wormmon were clueless as to what was going on. V-mon looked as if he might know, but I think he was still trying to process what Gennai had said. Osamu understood, though. I sighed and said, "Aw, come on. It can't be as bad as you say."

"It is," Gennai said, "You were gone for over two days. That is years in the digital world. Years. Years where too many things went wrong. Years where evil grew too strong, and the chosen children almost lost. It was your duty to keep some of the evil down and lighten the work load for the chosen children, and you failed."

This was bad. Vary bad. But, I didn't have time to say anything. Gennai continued on, "As a matter of fact, the only reason that you aren't dead know is because of the fact that you're the best tag tamer we have. If you were any other tag tamer, you would have been tried and executed before the chosen children defeated Vamdeon. You made the choice to be a tag tamer, Ryo. You and you alone. You can't go back on that choice now. You can't choose to be a tag tamer some days, and to not be one other days. We don't have that luxury, and neither do you. You have to be ready at ALL times, and you must do EXCATLY as we tell you, without exception! Do you have any idea how close we came to losing everything?! We barely succeeded! Can you even imagine what would have happened if the chosen children had failed?! Both worlds would have been lost, and it would have been due to your lack of responsibility!"

Gennai's voice had gotten steadily louder as his speech had gone on. Ken had hidden behind Osamu, and the digimon were cringing against the harsh words. I said, "Well, what did you want me to do, huh?! I couldn't just leave Ken here on his own! And I sure as hell couldn't trust those chosen children to take care of him! He's almost like a brother to me! What would you have done if you were in my shoes?!"

"What would you have done if you were in mine," Gennai asked, his voice soft, but the malevolence still present. I stopped to think about that. After all, I had put him in a tough position. I was about to say something when Gennai said, "No, Don't both answering. Just come with me. You have a lot to do in the Digital world."

Gennai turned and began to walk away. I said, "Hey, wait a minute! What about Ken and Wormmon?"

"Ken stay here," Gennai said, "Ken is a chosen child, not a tag tamer. The work of the chosen children is done. Wormmon has to come with us, though."

Ken then cried out and ran to Wormmon. He said, "No! Why can't Wormmon stay here with me?"

"He belongs in the Digital world," Gennai said without stopping or turning around, "Ryo, V-mon, Wormmon, come on. Let's go."

I sighed and followed him. I didn't really have much choice. V-mon and Wormmon came as well. Gennai opened up a portal in front of him and stepped into it. I was a bit surprised, but nobody besides me, the digimon, Osamu, and Ken seemed to see it. It must have been some kind of magic. I looked back to Ken and saw that he was crying silently. I smiled and said, "Hey, no worries. I'll take good care of Wormmon."

"You promise," Ken asked, tears still running down his face. I nodded, then said, "See you around. Both of you," And stepped into the portal."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wasn't returned to where Ken and I had been before. I was returned to a desert. Gennai was waiting for me there. He said, "You only have one chance to redeem yourself. There is an evil digimon in this desert that was never defeated by the chosen children. It is known as Milleniummon. Defeat that digimon, and you will be redeemed in the eyes of the powers that be."

Then, Gennai disappeared, leaving V-mon, Wormmon, and I alone to fight this evil digimon. 

Many months passed, during which time we learned how truly difficult our task would be. As it turned out, Milleniummon was an uber-powerful ultimate level digimon with an army of minions following him. We never got anywhere near Milleniummon, but we did defeat a lot of his army. During which time, V-mon and Wormmon both had digivolved to champion level. Wormmon's evolution surprised me greatly. After all, he wasn't my partner. I think it was just a lucky break when we needed it. Anyways, we were preparing to go up against Milleniummon, when he returned to the Digital world.

About two years after I had left, The two digimon and I came upon a village of young digimon. They were in a danger zone, but they couldn't leave until some travelers arrived to escort them away. The travelers weren't due to arrive for about a week, so we all decided to stick around and protect the village. That was a good thing, too, because a lot of young digimon were there, and quite a few of them were important digimon who had been reborn. 

The young digimon adored me. They affectionately called me "Ryo-nii-chan" or "Our protector." And I cared about the little digimon, too. Who couldn't love such cute little things? I thought that all would be well, and that I'd stay there until the travelers came to escort them to safety. Then, something happened.

We found Ken wandering around the digital world. I knew that this wasn't good, so I asked him why he was here. He said that he had missed me and wanted to see me, but I could tell that wasn't the only reason. He was acting kinda shifty and wouldn't make eye contact with me. I said, "Ken, you are a horrible liar," and proceeded to head to the nearest portal. I had to take him home, after all. I was sure that the young digimon wouldn't miss me for a couple hours, now that the time flow was back to normal.

I took Ken home, promising myself that I would only stay for a couple hours, then I would go back to the Digital world. We ended up coming out of Ken's computer again, and a worried looking Osamu was waiting on the other side. As soon as we came through, Osamu said, "Ken! Where have you been?! I've been looking for…"

Yup, he laid eyes on me at that exact moment. I smiled sheepishly as I blushed slightly and said, "Hey, Osamu. Long time, no see."

Osamu just stared at me for a moment. Then, he looked away, a look of resentment plastered all over his face. I cocked my head sideways and said, "What's wrong, Osamu? Aren't you glad to see me?"

Osamu still wouldn't look at me. Instead, he said, "Ken, do you think you could take Wormmon and V-mon into the other room?"

Ken nodded and took the digimon away, shutting the door behind him. I said, "What's the big deal, Osamu?"

It'd be wrong of me to say that I wasn't at least a bit confused. I had expected Osamu to at least miss me a bit. We might not have known each other well, but Ken and I were pretty good friends. I thought that Ken might have at least asked about me when I was gone.

Then, Osamu looked me in the eyes. His eyes were full of pain and sorrow. He looked like he might even cry. I was a bit startled, and I took a half step back. Osamu said, "Why couldn't you just stay away?"

"Stay away," I said, "Why?"

"Because," Osamu said, "You hurt me. Each and every day you hurt me. Nearly two years went by without even as much as a friendly 'Hi! I'm fine,' and I was worried sick about you! You could have been dead, and I never would have known!"

I took a step back. Osamu was starting to scare me. I looked back into hiss deep blue eyes, and I could feel the tears tugging at my eyes as well. I said, "I couldn't…I was being watched so carefully…I'm taking a big risk by just being here now…"

Osamu shook his head. In a sarcastic tone, he said, "Oh, of course. We can't forget about your reputation now, can we?"

Osamu took a step towards me, and I stepped back, running into the wall. I said, "Why are you saying these things, Osamu?"

Osamu was now right in front of me. He was so close that I swear I could almost taste him. It took a lot of effort to resist kissing him right then. He said, "Because, I love you."

Then, he kissed me. Not one of those passionate I-want-to-shag-you kisses, mind you. It was gentler, and it was inviting. It was more like he was afraid of how I would react, so he didn't want to press his luck. I put an end to those fears by wrapping my arms around his waist and kissing him back. He then wrapped his arms around my neck. It did feel kinda weird, but I was enjoying it.

Damn the human need to breathe.

Before we knew it, we had to stop and take a breath. As we caught out breath, I couldn't help but notice how damn sexy Osamu looked. If we were a couple years older, I probably would have shagged him in a heartbeat.

Damn the fact that I was only 13.

I held him close and he said, "I've loved you for so long. Ever since that day I first saw you, I loved you. I just couldn't admit it, at first."

"Same here," I said, "I thought that you would hate me forever or something if I told you. I guess I was a jerk for not saying anything. Then staying away for two years. Do you hate me?"

Osamu smiled at me and said, "Nope. I'd never hate you."

I laughed and said, "Did you have that whole speech thing all planned out or something?"

"Up to the 'I was worried sick about you' part," Osamu said slyly. I sighed and said, "Can you forgive me for being such a jerk?"

"Only if you change your clothes. No offence, but you don't exactly smell good."

"Ha ha."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Osamu ended up lending me a set of his clothes. I now had a purplish/bluish shirt, green pants (I kept my old ones, but Osamu had them washed for me), new socks, the same shoes, and white gloves. I must admit, they were pretty spiffy. 

After I had changed, Osamu and Ken filled me in on what had happened since I had left. My disappearance had been reported, but it had become old news fast. Also, all data about the digimon attack two years ago had mysteriously disappeared. Of course, that wasn't public knowledge. Osamu was just a really good hacker. Apparently, almost nobody knew about digimon anymore. 

I completely lost track of time and before I knew it, it was already dark. Osamu convinced me to stick around until tomorrow. He told me that he was going to show me something cool the next day, and then I could go back. I kept pestering him to tell me, but he wouldn't. Of course, my curiosity got the better of me. I agreed, and after a make out session (Hey, just because we were too young to make whoopee didn't mean we were too young to make out), I fell asleep in Osamu's bed, holding my dear Osamu close to me.

The next morning, I was almost discovered by Osamu's mom. Luckily Osamu always locked his door, so I had a few seconds to hide. Osamu managed to get her to go away, and our secret was safe. 

We went out after breakfast. It was Sunday, so Osamu and Ken didn't have school. We walked down the street, Ken running ahead, and Osamu and I walking a little ways back. Wormmon and V-mon were there as well, but they were hidden in a gym bag I was carrying. Ken made sure to stay in eyesight as he ran up the street, calling for us to keep up. Osamu called out, "Be careful, Ken."

I smiled and took Osamu by the hand. I said, "Aw, let him have a little fun. He's only a kid, after all."

Osamu sighed and relented. He said, "Alright, if you say so, Ryo."

We all came to a street corner. As we waited for the light, we saw a van speeding up the road. The guy didn't look like he was paying attention to the road, for he was looking at a map while he drove. Osamu and I exchanged glances, and we knew that we'd have to wait until that guy passed. 

Ken didn't know, though.

He ran out into the street as soon as the light changed. I noticed him at the last moment, and tried to grab for the back of his shirt, but I missed. Just as he reached the middle of the road, he noticed the van and froze in place. Osamu cried out Ken's name and took a couple steps to go after him, but I was faster. I dove out and knocked Ken out of the way. I sighed, thinking that everything was alright.

Then, I heard the squealing of the brakes, and I knew something bad had happened. Apparently, the guy in the van had seen me run out in the road and had tried to swerve. But, in the process, he had not seen Osamu until it was too late. Ken and I looked up just as the van hit Osamu.

I felt my heart shatter into a thousand pieces at that moment. It was as if the van had hit me rather than Osamu. I wanted to go help him, but I was frozen in place. So was Ken, apparently. Even when the ambulance came, we couldn't move. I couldn't. I was stuck, kneeling on the side of the road, Ken standing next to me. Even as Osamu's parents showed up, and even as they took Osamu away to the hospital, I stayed in place. I felt the tears begin to run down my face, but I still didn't move. Ken didn't move or say anything, either. Well, except for one word.

"O..Onnisan?"

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Author: Man, that was a hard scene to write! I get sappy at times…… oh, and Oniisan means "Older brother." So does Nii-chan, but Nii-chan is more like saying "big bro" or something.


	8. Chapter 8

Author: Well, here's the final chapter. Enjoy!

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Osamu died in the hospital three hours later. He was brain dead when he arrived, but they had him on life support until his parents finally let him go. Ken was there, too, but I wasn't. I was in a daze. I had just found my Osamu, and now I had lost him. It felt like life had just barely begun, and yet it had to end. 

I wandered around for several days, until I came upon a funeral home. Not just any funeral home, either. It was the one where Osamu's funeral was being held on that particular day. So, I went in. 

I sat in the back so that nobody would see me. After all, I wasn't properly dressed for a funeral. I was just wearing some street clothes.

Clothes that Osamu had given me.

I quickly identified Ken and his parents. They were sitting in the front row. Ken's mom was crying quietly into a handkerchief. His dad was sitting there solemnly, trying not to shed tears. And Ken…he showed nothing. No sadness, no hate, nothing. He just sat there the whole time. He didn't even speak once.

I couldn't speak, either. How could I tell everyone that it had been my fault that Osamu had died? True, the truck driver would have run over Ken if I hadn't done something, but I wasn't thinking clearly enough to realize that at that time. All that was processing was that Osamu was dead, and I had killed him.

After everyone had left to travel to the graveyard, I walked up to the casket. I couldn't help but stare at Osamu. He was laying there as if he was sleeping. Man, even in death he still looked hot. I wanted to shake his shoulder, to tell him 'wake up! You're not dead!'

The whole scene reminded me of a time me and Anya were playing in a big box at the hardware store. Anya had laid down in the box and pretended to be dead. At first, she was frowning. Then, I said, "Anya! Dead people smile, remember?"

Then Anya had smiled, and started to giggle as well. Then Claire had come along, and Anya had scared the crap out of her by jumping out of the box and going, "Boo!"

But today, there wouldn't be any pranks. Osamu was dead, and he wasn't coming back. I felt the tears beginning to return. So, I made it brief. I gave Osamu one last kiss and said, "Sayonara, Osamu. Daisuki." (1)

Yet again my wanderings began. I strayed around Tamachi for a couple days before I finally came upon a familiar sight. I had arrived at the apartments where Ken lived. I didn't use the front door. I didn't want to. Instead, I sneaked in through the sliding glass door in Osamu's room.

The room had changed quite a bit. All of Osamu's things had been taken away. Well, except for his computer. And currently, Ken was using it. Ken looked up when he heard the sliding glass door open.

Ken seemed to be much older than he was before, even though only about a week had passed. He was now wearing what looked to be a school uniform of a white shirt and gray pants. His hair looked a little neater; it had obviously been combed. But the biggest change in Ken was his eyes. Once his eyes had held innocence and curiosity. Now they only had pain and sorrow. 

I couldn't leave him like that. I'd seen kids commit suicide because things like this had happened to them. I had to do something. The only thing I could think of doing was taking him to the Digital world with me. So, that is exactly what I did. 

When we first arrived in the Digital world, something just didn't seem quite right. I couldn't put my finger on it right then, though. So, I shook it off and decided to take Ken to the digimon village I had been at before he came. It was there that I saw something that nearly caused me to loose all faith in life itself. 

The entire village had been destroyed.

It was then that I realized what had been wrong. The little digimon usually played in the area near the village. Today, it had been completely empty. Every digimon was gone.

I lost it. After everything that had happened, I just couldn't take it anymore. Losing my Osamu was such a hard blow, but losing the village, which I had come to love and adore, pushed me over the edge. I fell to my knees, clutching my head in my hands. I said, "I can't do this! I can't take it anymore!"

V-mon placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Ryo. Things will get better."

"I don't believe that," I said, "I can't! Things haven't gotten better for two f****** years! It's been nothing but a roller coaster of pain, sorrow, and death! And I can't stand it anymore!"

I collapsed, sobbing. For the third time in my life I was crying. I felt everything around me sort of fade away. It was as if it didn't exist. I would have gladly wallowed in my grief for the rest of my days. But, my three true friends wouldn't let me. 

V-mon and Ken helped me sit up. Ken said, "Don't cry, Ryo. If you cry, it will make me cry, then V-mon and Wormmon will cry, too. Then who will save the world?"

That's right! I had to save the world. No matter what happened, I couldn't lose sight of that. I dried my tears and said, "You're right, Ken. We do have to save the world."

By now, nearly all my sorrow had left me. Now, I was filled with a rage. A rage directed at Milleniummon. This was all his fault, and he would pay for what he had done. I would make sure of that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For some time, Ken and I, along with our digimon, followed Milleniummon. That wasn't too hard; he left a trail of destruction in his wake. Just follow the destruction, and you would reach him. It was saddening to see all the things that Milleniummon had done, though. 

Surprisingly, Gennai didn't come and tell me off for leaving the Digital World again. That was probably a good thing, though. I don't think I could have lasted through him chewing me out at that time. My sanity was wearing quite thin, mainly due to the stress. The same was true for Ken, as well. He never said anything, but I could see the fatigue in his eyes. 

We traveled for many weeks in the desert. We didn't really have too much trouble, save the occasional attacks from Milleniummon's lackeys. Then, A sandstorm hit. 

There wasn't any shelter nearby, so we had to ride it out in the open. Luckily, it was a light sandstorm, so we would live through it. We just braced ourselves and rode it out. Ken was kneeling on the ground, holding Wormmon close to him. V-mon and I were still standing up, but we were shielding our faces with our arms.

After the sandstorm had been going on for a while, I noticed something in the distance. It was a dark figure, and it was approaching us. I studied it closely, and I was eventually able to make out what it was. It was Milleniummon.

I pulled Ken up to his feet and said, "Ken, we have big problems!"

I then pointed out to where Milleniummon was. Ken squinted as he tried to see it, but he couldn't make out what it was. He said, "What is it, Ryo?"

I said, "It's Milleniummon!"

Wormmon and V-mon stepped in front of us defensively. Ken and I pulled out our digivices, but I knew it wouldn't be enough. After all, Wormmon and V-mon could only digivolve to the adult level, and Milleniummon was an ultimate. He was two whole levels above either of them.

But, we still tried. V-mon and Wormmon digivolved to XVmon and Stingmon, retrospectively. They both went out to attack, but Milleniummon knocked them away easily. They tried again, but there was no effect. They just weren't strong enough. Then, while our digimon were distracted, Milleniummon attacked Ken and I. I pushed Ken out of the way, But the attack got me a little bit, and I fell to my knees, injured. Ken called out, "Ryo!"

Milleniummon stopped in his tracks. The digimon took this opportunity to attack, but there was still no effect. Ken ran to me and said, "Ryo! Are you alright?"

I nodded, the flinched as I tried to move the side that had been hit. It was my left side; the same side that had been injured years ago. The wound had healed, but it had left a scar. Now I had another future scar crossing over it. The old scar had slated slightly upwards towards my head, and the new cut (which did turn out to be a scar later) slanted slightly downwards. So, I would eventually have a very narrow x on my left side. 

I slowly stood up and looked towards the fighting digimon. XVmon and Stingmon were still attacking Milleniummon, though they weren't causing any damage. Milleniummon wasn't moving, though. It seemed almost like he was in shock.

This was it. We weren't strong enough. As soon as Milleniummon started attacking again, we were as good as dead. But, I never gave up hope. And neither did Ken. Ken called out to the digimon, "Keep it up! We believe in you!"

Then, a miracle happened. Ken's digivice, as well as mine, began to glow. Mine was glowing blue, and Ken's was glowing black. As soon as the glowing stopped, I saw that the digivices had changed in shape and color. They were a little bigger, and they had more buttons. Mine was white with some dark blue on the edge. Ken's was similar, only his had a gray and black motif. Ken stared at his new digivice as he said, "Is this…a miracle?"

I nodded and said, "Yup. I guess so."

Then, something even more amazing happened. XVmon and Stingmon both began to glow, and they merged into one digimon! They had joggressed! (2) 

This new digimon was much bigger, and it looked like both XVmon and Stingmon. It said, "Milleniummon, you shall pay for everything you have done now!"

Ken and I could only offer words of encouragement as the new digimon fought against Milleniummon. It was strong, but Milleniummon was still a bit stronger. And he had started to fight again, too. 

It was a long a brutal battle, but the new digimon emerged victorious. Milleniummon's data was beginning to delete as the new digimon de-evolved into V-mon and Wormmon. The two digimon jumped into our arms as they celebrated the victory. I felt a load be taken off my mind, too. The rage which had driven me before was now gone. I could actually feel truly happy again.

But, the celebration came a bit too soon. As a last ditch effort, Milleniummon threw some weird seeds at me. But Ken shoved me out of the way and took the hit for me. As soon as it had hit him, he fell to the ground, screaming in pain. I tried to help him, but I didn't know what to do.

Then, Gennai appeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was lucky that he came when he did. We were all hurt, and we probably would have died if we were left in the desert. Gennai took us all to a safe place, and he cared for us. He gave Ken some weird drink, and it seemed to ease his pain. Then Gennai took care of the digimon, then me. As he was bandaging me up, he said, "Ryo, you disobeyed the powers that be again."

"I know," I said with a sigh, "But I couldn't help it! Ken appeared, and I wanted to make sure he got home safely."

"Uh huh," Gennai said, "You wanted to make sure he made it home safely, so you brought him back here?"

"Not at first," I said, "First I stayed at his house overnight. Then….well, some pretty bad stuff happened, and I brought him back here so that he wouldn't be alone."

I had felt the burning in my throat when I had almost mentioned Osamu's death. It was still painful to think about. Gennai said, "Well, Ken is in a lot of trouble now. He is now doomed to a life of darkness and despair."

"What?!"

The was the only word I could say. I just stared at Gennai after that. Gennai continued, "The thing he was infected with was a dark seed. As it grows inside of him, it will warp his personality until he is cold, cruel, and evil. And since he is a chosen child-"

"Tag tamer."

"-this makes things even more dangerous. That darkness could easily spread to the Digital world. We must seal him in a crystal. That way, the seed cannot grow."

I shook my head. "That just can't be," I said, "There must be something we can do!"

Gennai shook his head. He finished bandaging me up, stood up, and handed me my shirt, which had been stitched up. He then walked to the door of the room. He stopped at the door and said, "Don't spend your time worrying about Ken. He is beyond hope. All you can do now is worry about what will happen to you."

Then he walked out of the room. V-mon said, "What now, Ryo?"

I didn't answer for a while. I couldn't. This was all too much. I had to absorb it before I could make a decision. I glanced over at Ken. He was fast asleep, Wormmon at his side. Wormmon looked very worried. V-mon said, "Ryo," one more time. I said, "I can't just leave him."

Then, I came up with a plan. A few diversions and one major escape later, We were all at Ken's house. I was carrying Ken on my back, and the two digimon were right beside me. Ken was still fast asleep. I set Ken down on his bed, and he moaned and opened his eyes a crack. He said, "R..Ryo?"

I nodded.

"Where are we?"

"Your home. You're safe now."

"…you sure?"

"Yeah. But Ken, you can't go back to the Digital world ever again, alright?"

"…Alright…"

That was the last time I ever spoke to Ken. He fell asleep after that. I turned to Wormmon and said, "It's up to you to take care of him. Make sure he's alright, ok?"

Wormmon nodded. He said, "Don't worry, Ryo. I will never leave Ken's side, even if he does become evil like Gennai said. Ken's my partner, and I love him."

Wormmon then jumped up on Ken's bed and laid down beside him. I smiled at the pair and held my digivice up to the computer. As the data stream took me back to the Digital world, I said, "Sayonara."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trouble was waiting for me in the Digital world. Namely like 20 travelers. They captured V-mon and I and took us to a giant chamber. In that chamber were four digimon. One looked like A giant 2 headed turtle with a tree on it's back, one looked like a giant bird, one looked like a giant dog digimon, and the last one looked like a furry dragon. The Dragon said, "Young tag tamer, I assume you know why you are here."

I nodded. The Dragon said, "I hope you realize that you are in a lot of trouble. You told your young Chosen child friend to disobey us, you disobeyed us, your lack of action killed hundreds of digimon, and you took a dangerous child, one that was supposed to be sealed away forever, and took him back to the Real world. What do you have to say in your defense?"

"I did what I did because I had to," I said, "I had to be strong for those who survived. If I hadn't done what I had done, then many more would have perished."

"And if you had followed our orders in the first place," the Dog said, "None of this would have happened."

I had no response to that. The Dragon sighed and said, "Alright then. We have no choice but to exile-"

"Exile," the Bird shouted, "This foolish human deserves more than exile! He deserves to be executed! He has crossed too many lines!"

"Now now," the Turtle said, "Don't be so rash. True, he did cause a lot of damage. But he also defeated Milleniummon. I think he deserves a little leeway."

"Preposterous," the Bird said, "If you give him leeway, you'll have to give all Tag tamers leeway! We must put our foots down now!"

I have to admit, I was scared then. So was V-mon. It's not everyday that the powers that be argue over weather you should be executed or not. The Dragon sighed and said, "Alright, let us take a vote. Should Akiyama Ryo be executed, or should he be forced into exile in the desert of Server?"

The vote was three to one in favor of exile. V-mon and I were shipped to the desert of Server. We were blindfolded first, so that we wouldn't know how to get out. Then, we were dropped off by a cave which is now our home.

It's not too bad here. There's an oasis nearby, so we have plenty of food and water. The cave is plenty of shelter. It's March now, so there aren't very many sandstorms. Given the circumstances, things are pretty good. 

I am almost out of paper now, so I have to end this. I will be brief with my "morale." Trust in yourself and your friends, and things will turn out fine. Strange morale, given the story, isn't it? Well, if I hadn't believed in myself and my friends, I probably would have died. So, reader, be strong. Don't be depressed just because things are bad. They will get better. Oh, and try to piss off the powers that be. That might get you killed, like it almost did me.

Well, goodbye reader. I hope you have a long and prosperous life.

Sincerely,

Akiyama Ryo

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__

Eight months later…

Ichijouji Ken walked along the path in the field. To where it led, he didn't know. It didn't matter, either. As long as he got rid of more of those horrible control spires he created, it was all good. Ken figured that the next village might have one in it, so he was headed there. Wormmon, his only friend, rode on his shoulder. They had been traveling for many hours now, and it was mid-afternoon. Not that time mattered too much to Ken.

Up ahead in the road, a Gazimon carrying a bag was sitting on a rock. It looked like it had been running, and it was taking a rest. Ken walked up to it and said, "Excuse me, but do you know where the next village is?"

"About ten miles down the road," the Gazimon said. Then it studied Ken for a moment. It said, "Hey, you're a human, right?"

Ken nodded. The Gazimon reached into his bag and pulled out a very thick letter. It handed the letter to Ken as it said, "Here. That kid told me to give it to a human, so here ya go."

"Kid," Ken said as he examined the letter, "What kid?"

"Some kid in the desert," the Gazimon said as it shook it's head, "I feel sorry for the poor guy. As soon as he finished it, a giant digimon attacked both him and his partner digimon. I managed to get away, but the digimon was deleted and the kid…" the Gazimon shook his head again, "Man, I really feel sorry for him. Losing his partner digimon seemed to be the last straw for him. It drove him mad. He said something like, 'Not again, I can't lose my last friend!' Then he started screaming, then yelling things at the digimon that had attacked him. But, he was talking in some funny language. Then, both the attacking digimon and the kid disappeared."

The Gazimon shook his head once more, then went on his way. Ken, who was quite interested, opened the letter. Wormmon said, "What does it say, Ken?"

Ken read it aloud. He read, "Dear whoever finds this letter,

"Greetings! I bet you are surprised to get a mysterious letter from a mysterious person. Well, let me introduce myself. My name is Akiyama Ryo, and am lost. Not in a physical sense, mind you, but in a spiritual sense. I am lost in a way that cannot be recovered by maps or simple directions…."

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Author: Yay! Finished! So tell me what you think! ^^; Sorry it took so long. This turned out to be longer than I expected. Well, that's it for now!

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(1): "Sayonara, Osamu. Daisuki." That's Japanese for "Goodbye (for forever or a very long time), Osamu. I love you."

(2): That's DNA digivolved for you people who follow the dub.


End file.
